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Summary

The Little, Brown Handbookprovides reliable and thorough coverage of handbook basics--the writing process, grammar and usage, research and documentation--while also giving detailed discussions of critical reading, academic writing, reading and writing arguments, writing in the disciplines, and public writing. Widely used by both experienced and inexperienced writers, The Little, Brown Handbookworks as both a comprehensive classroom text and an accessible reference guide.

Table of Contents

Preface for Students: Using This Book

Preface for Instructors

Introduction Joining the Academic Community

I1. Getting the most from college courses

I2. Becoming an academic writer

I3. Developing academic integrity

I4. Communicating in an academic setting

PART 1 THE PROCESS OF WRITING

1 Assessing the Writing Situation

a. Understanding how writing happens

b. Analyzing the writing situation

c. Discovering and limiting a subject

d. Defining a purpose

e. Considering the audience

f. Using genres

2 Discovering and Shaping Ideas

a. Discovering ideas

b. Developing a thesis

c. Organizing ideas

SAMPLE INFORMATIVE ESSAY

3 Drafting, Revising, and Editing

a. Writing the first draft

b. Revising the first draft

c. Examining a sample revision

d. Editing the revised draft

e. Preparing and proofreading the final draft

SAMPLE FINAL DRAFT (RESPONSE ESSAY)

f. Giving and receiving comments

g. Preparing a writing portfolio

4 Writing and Revising Paragraphs

a. Relating paragraphs in the essay

b. Maintaining paragraph unity

c. Achieving paragraph coherence

d. Developing the paragraph

e. Writing special kinds of paragraphs

5 Presenting Writing

a. Academic writing

SAMPLE MARKETING REPORT

b. Visuals and other media

c. Web writing

SAMPLE WEB SITE

SAMPLE LITERACY NARRATIVE ON A BLOG

d. Making oral presentations

SAMPLE POWERPOINT SLIDES

PART 2 READING AND WRITING IN AND OUT OF COLLEGE

6 Forming a Critical Perspective

a. Using techniques of critical reading

b. Summarizing

c. Developing a critical response

d. Viewing visuals critically

7 Writing in Academic Situations

a. Determining purpose, audience, and genre

b. Writing in response to texts

c. Choosing structure and content

d. Acknowledging sources

e. Using academic language

f. Examining sample critical responses

SAMPLE CRITIQUE OF A TEXT

SAMPLE CRITIQUE OF A VISUAL

8 Reading Arguments Critically

a. Recognizing the elements of argument

b. Testing claims

c. Weighing evidence

d. Discovering assumptions

e. Watching language, hearing tone

f. Judging reasonableness

g. Recognizing fallacies

h. Reading visual arguments

9 Writing an Argument

a. Finding a subject

b. Conceiving a thesis statement

c. Analyzing your purpose and your audience

d. Using reason

e. Using evidence

f. Reaching your readers

g. Organizing your argument

h. Revising your argument

SAMPLE ARGUMENT

10 Taking Essay Exams

a. Preparing for an essay examination

b. Planning your time and your answer

c. Starting the essay

d. Developing the essay

SAMPLE ESSAY EXAMS

e. Rereading the essay

11 Public Writing

a. Writing business letters and memos

SAMPLE LETTER AND MEMO

b. Writing a job application

SAMPLE LETTER AND RÉSUMÉ

c. Writing business reports and proposals

SAMPLE REPORT AND PROPOSAL

d. Writing for community work

SAMPLE FLYER, NEWSLETTER, AND BROCHURE

PART 3 GRAMMATICAL SENTENCES

12 Understanding Sentence Grammar

a. Understanding the basic sentence

b. Expanding the basic sentence with single words

c. Expanding the basic sentence with word groups

d. Compounding words, phrases, and clauses

e. Changing the usual word order

f. Classifying sentences

13 Case of Nouns and Pronouns

a. Compound subjects and subject complements

b. Compound objects

c. We or us with a noun

d. Appositives

e. Pronoun after than or as in a comparison

f. Subjects and objects of infinitives

g. Who vs. whom

h. Case before a gerund

14 Verbs

Verb Forms

a. Regular and irregular verbs

b. Sit and set; lie and lay; rise and raise

c. Omitted -s and -ed endings

d. Helping verbs

e. Verb plus gerund or infinitive

f. Verb plus article

Tense

g. Appropriate tense for meaning

h. Sequence of tenses

Mood

i. Subjunctive verb forms

Voice

j. Active vs. passive voice

15 Agreement

a. Agreement between subject and verb

b. Agreement between pronoun and antecedent

16 Adjectives and Adverbs

a. Adjectives only with nouns and pronouns

b. Adjectives after linking verbs

c. Adjectives with objects; adverbs with verbs

d. Comparative and superlative forms

e. Double negatives

f. Overuse of nouns as modifiers

g. Present and past participles as adjectives

h. A, an, the, and other determiners

PART 4 CLEAR SENTENCES

17 Sentence Fragments

a. Tests for sentence completeness, revision of fragments

b. Subordinate clause

c. Verbal or prepositional phrase

d. Other fragments

e. Acceptable uses of incomplete sentences

18 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences

Comma Splices

a. Main clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction

b. Main clauses related by a conjunctive adverb or transitional expression

Fused Sentences

c. Main clauses with no conjunction or punctuation

19 Pronoun Reference

a. Clear reference to one antecedent

b. Clear placement of pronoun and antecedent

c. Reference to specific antecedent

d. Indefinite use of you

f. Appropriate who, which, that

20 Shifts

a. Person and number

b. Tense and mood

c. Subject and voice

d. Indirect and direct quotations and questions

21 Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Misplaced Modifiers

a. Clear placement of modifiers

b. Limiting modifiers

c. Squinting modifiers

d. Separation of subjects, verbs, and objects

e. Separation of parts of infinitives or verb phrases

f. Position of adverbs

g. Order of adjectives

Dangling Modifiers

h. Dangling modifiers

22 Mixed and Incomplete Sentences

Mixed Sentences

a. Mixed grammar

b. Mixed meaning (faulty predication)

Incomplete Sentences

c. Compound constructions

d. Comparisons

e. Careless omissions

PART 5 EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

23 Emphasizing Ideas

a. Using subjects and verbs effectively

b. Using sentence beginnings and endings

c. Arranging parallel elements effectively

d. Repeating ideas

e. Separating ideas

f. Being concise

24 Using Coordination and Subordination

a. Coordinating to relate equal ideas

b. Subordinating to distinguish main ideas

c. Choosing clear connectors

25 Using Parallelism

a. Using parallelism for coordinate elements

b. Using parallelism to increase coherence

26 Achieving Variety

a. Varying sentence length and structure

b. Varying sentence beginnings

c. Inverting the normal word order

d. Mixing types of sentences

PART 6 PUNCTUATION

Chart

27 End Punctuation

a. The period

b. The question mark

c. The exclamation point

28 The Comma

a. Main clauses linked by coordinating conjunctions

b. Introductory elements

c. Nonessential elements

d. Absolute phrases

e. Phrases expressing contrast

f. Series and coordinate adjectives

g. Dates, addresses, place names, long numbers

h. With quotations

i. To prevent misreading

j. Misuse and overuse

29 The Semicolon

a. Main clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction

b. Main clauses related by a conjunctive adverb or transitional expression

c. Main clauses that are too long or contain commas

d. Series items that are long or contain commas

e. Misuse and overuse

30 The Apostrophe

a. Possession

b. Misuses with noun plurals, verbs, and personal pronouns

c. Contractions

d. Plurals of abbreviations, dates, and words or characters named as words

31 Quotation Marks

Chart

a. Direct quotations

b. Quotation within a quotation

c. Dialog

d. Titles of songs, short stories, etc.

e. Words used in a special sense

f. Overuse

g. Placement with other punctuation marks

32 Other Punctuation Marks

a. The colon

b. The dash

c. Parentheses

d. Brackets

e. The ellipsis mark

f. The slash

PART 7 MECHANICS

33 Capitals

a. First word of a sentence

b. Titles of works

c. Pronoun I and interjection O

d. Proper nouns and adjectives

e. Titles before proper names

f. Misuses of capitals

34 Italics or Underlining

a. Titles of books and periodicals

b. Names of ships, aircraft, spacecraft, trains

c. Foreign words and phrases

d. Words, letters, and numbers named as words

e. For emphasis

f. In online communication

35 Abbreviations

a. Titles before and after proper names

b. Familiar abbreviations and acronyms

c. BC, BCE, AD, CE, AM, PM, no., and $

d. Latin abbreviations

e. Inc., Bros., Co., and &

f. Misuse with units of measurement, geographical names, and so on

36 Numbers

a. Numerals vs. words

b. For dates, addresses, etc.

c. Beginning sentences

PART 8 EFFECTIVE WORDS

37 Using Appropriate Language

a. Revising nonstandard dialect

b. Revising shortcuts of online communication

c. Using slang only when appropriate

d. Using colloquial language only when appropriate

e. Using regionalisms only when appropriate

f. Revising neologisms

g. Using technical words with care

h. Revising indirect or pretentious writing

i. Revising sexist and other biased language

38 Using Exact Language

a. Using a dictionary and a thesaurus

b. Using the right word for your meaning

c. Balancing the abstract and concrete, the general and specific

d. Using idioms

e. Using figurative language

f. Using fresh expressions

39 Writing Concisely

a. Focusing on subject and verb

b. Cutting or shortening empty words and phrases

c. Cutting unnecessary repetition

d. Reducing clauses to phrases, phrases to single words

e. Revising there is and it is constructions

f. Combining sentences

g. Rewriting jargon

40 Spelling and the Hyphen

a. Recognizing typical spelling problems

b. Following spelling rules

c. Developing spelling skills

d. Using the hyphen to form or divide words

PART 9 RESEARCH WRITING

41 Planning a Research Project

a. Starting out

b. Finding a researchable subject and question

c. Developing a research strategy

d. Making a working, annotated bibliography

42 Finding Sources

a. Starting with your library’s Web site

b. Searching electronically

c. Finding reference works

d. Finding books

e. Finding periodicals

f. Finding sources on the Web

g. Finding sources using social media

h. Finding government publications

i. Finding visuals, audio, and video

j. Generating your own sources

43 Working with Sources

a. Evaluating sources

b. Synthesizing sources

c. Mining and interacting with sources

d. Using summary, paraphrase, and quotation

e. Integrating sources into your text

44 Avoiding Plagiarism and Documenting Sources

a. Distinguishing deliberate from accidental plagiarism

b. Knowing what you need not acknowledge

c. Knowing what you must acknowledge

d. Obtaining permission when publishing your work

e. Documenting sources

45 Writing the Paper

a. Developing a thesis statement

b. Creating a structure

c. Drafting the paper

d. Revising and editing the paper

e. Preparing and proofreading the final draft

46 Using MLA Documentation and Format

a. Using MLA in-text citations

b. Preparing the MLA list of works cited

c. Using MLA document format

47 Two Research Papers in MLA Style

“The False Promise of Green Consumerism”

“Annie Dillard’s Healing Vision”

PART 10 WRITING IN THE ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES

48 Working with the Goals and Requirements of the Disciplines

a. Using methods and evidence

b. Understanding writing assignments

c. Using tools and language

d. Following styles for source citations and document format

49 Reading and Writing About Literature

a. Using the methods and evidence of literary analysis

b. Understanding writing assignments in literature

c. Using the tools and language of literary analysis

d. Citing sources and formatting documents in writing about literature